A strange doorway appears in the basement of a furniture showroom, leading to an endless network of interconnected rooms. A film by Kane Parsons, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, Lukita Maxwell, Avan Jogia, Robert Bobroczkyi, Ember Ambrose, Krista Kosonen, Philip Granger, Katharine Isabelle, Peter New, Sarah Hayward, Natalie Moon, Calix Fraser, Sawyer Fraser, Patrick Baynham, Rhiannon Roberts, Dana Mahmood, Matthew Patrick Savage, Ramona Kim, Milana Wan, Kelly Craig, and Mel Kostas.

Directed by Kane Parsons in his feature debut and written by Will Soodik, BACKROOMS is a gripping sci-fi horror film. The story follows a furniture store owner who discovers a portal to the Backrooms in the basement of his shop. The film is based on Parsons’ 24-episode YouTube series, which originally drew inspiration from the 2019 4chan creepypasta.

Creepypasta is internet horror fiction: short scary stories, legends, or haunted media tales that spread by being copied and shared online. Creepypastas often take the form of anonymous posts, journal entries, forum threads, or fake found footage stories. They may include distorted images, audio, or video to make the story feel more real.

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@pradt

BACKROOMS 🚪
You are not supposed to be here.
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A film by Kane Parsons, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, Lukita Maxwell, Avan Jogia, Robert Bobroczkyi, Ember Ambrose, Krista Kosonen, Philip Granger, Katharine Isabelle, Peter New, Sarah Hayward, Natalie Moon, Calix Fraser, Sawyer Fraser, Patrick Baynham, Rhiannon Roberts, Dana Mahmood, Matthew Patrick Savage, Ramona Kim, Milana Wan, Kelly Craig, and Mel Kostas.

Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve deliver compelling performances as Clark, a struggling furniture store owner navigating a failed marriage, and Dr. Mary Kline, his therapist who is haunted by a traumatic childhood.

The film brilliantly blends the found-footage style with a real-time narrative that spirals into absolute chaos. As the protagonists venture deeper into this extradimensional space, the endless, interconnected rooms lead them into darker and more terrifying territory. I found myself anxiously scanning every frame for clues and escape routes, rooting for them to survive the mysterious entity lurking in the shadows, relentlessly hunting unfortunate souls who stumble into the Backrooms.

Jeremy Cox’s cinematography is remarkably unsettling. The production design of the Backrooms is truly mind-boggling in the best way possible. I absolutely love the unpredictability. You never know what to expect because it’s impossible to guess what’s waiting in the next room, making it feel like anything can happen. It’s a pure adrenaline rush that keeps the audience completely hooked.

One minor flaw is that the film never explicitly explains why the store’s evil pirate mascot initially spares Clark when it brutally kills everyone else. Is it because Clark is the owner and holds some sort of authority over it? If so, why does the mascot eventually kill him anyway? Is it a punishment for letting Mary leave? While I can suspend my disbelief for a sci-fi horror film, the narrative still needs to maintain its own internal logic.

There is so much potential for where the Backrooms universe could go from here. Hopefully, Parsons expands the story into a trilogy, perhaps with a prequel exploring the lore’s origins and a sequel that further unravels its sinister secrets.

The Backrooms are an internet urban legend and creepypasta that started with a single post on 4chan’s /x/ (paranormal) board in May 2019. An anonymous user asked for “disquieting images that just feel ‘off.'” And someone posted a photo of an empty, yellow-walled room with buzzing fluorescent lights and damp carpet. It became a massive internet myth about an infinite, soulless office maze.

BACKROOMS premiered at the Aero Theatre in Los Angeles on 7 May 2026. The film was theatrically released in the United States on 29 May, by A24.